Google aims to settle Commission’s competition concerns

Google has submitted a “detailed” offer to settle concerns that some of its practices are anti-competitive, the European Commission said today (1 February).

Joaquìn Almunia, the European commissioner for competition, had given the US internet giant an informal deadline of midnight yesterday to propose remedies.

A spokesman for Almunia today refused to comment on the contents of the Google proposal and said that Commission officials were analysing it.

He added that Google’s offer was in the context of “reaching a settlement” but said that officials had not yet reached a stage where they could judge whether the company’s proposals could be made legally binding.

He said that he could “not yet anticipate the next steps” and refused to say how long the process could take.

The Commission has been investigating Google for two years amid complaints from search engine rivals, including Microsoft, that the company had been using a dominant position to shut out competition.

Almunia has said that Google may have breached EU competition rules in four areas, including favouring its own search services ahead of competitors and placing restrictions on advertisers that wished to move to other search engines.

If Google does not succeed in coming up with remedies that the Commission believes allay competition concerns, it could be fined up to 10% of its worldwide turnover.